Anti-Cult Movement (ACM) topics covered by this essay:

An ACM is needed to raise public awareness of the danger of some
doomsday religious groups which are/were clearly destructive and even life-threatening
to their membership. During the past 20 years there have been a number of groups that have
caused very serious losses of life, including:

The mass murders and some consensual suicides by 913 members of the People's Temple in Jonestown, Guyana

The Branch Davidians may be another example. However it is currently impossible
to separate fact from fiction in the events at Waco TX. Some
members appear to have been murdered by others in the group. Others died as a result of
the fire that most likely was lit by arsonists within the group.

Leaders of the Aum Shinri Kyo (Aum Supreme Truth)
group in Japan organized poison gas attacks on the public.

Dozens of members of the Solar Temple were convinced
to commit suicide or were murdered in Quebec and Europe. They believed that death would
allow them to go to another level of existence.

Over three dozens of members of the Heaven's Gate
group in San Diego county CA were convinced to voluntarily commit suicide. There were no
indications of murder at the scene. They also believed that suicide would elevate them to
a higher level of existence.

But these represent a very small minority among new religious groups. And they do not
appear to be the groups that the ACM primarily targets. In the past, attacks have
concentrated on legitimate new religious movements, like the Unification
Church, Hare Krishnas, Children of God,
the Church of Scientology, the Mormon
church, etc. and the nonexistent underground movement of abusive
Satanists, etc. To get an understanding of the type of harm that anti-cult
beliefs can do to benign religious groups, consider the experiences of the
Messianic Communities (a.k.a. Twelve Tribes Communities).
They have documented their victimization by ACM groups, deprogrammers,
social service workers and the police. 1

Most ACM groups seem to take the legitimate public fear of destructive, doomsday cults,
raise that fear to a fever pitch, and then direct it against benign new religious groups.
But almost all of the groups that they victimize have only committed two
"crimes": they are new, and they still have a small membership.

This essay continues below.

Much of the confusion over new religious movements relates to a misunderstanding of the
conformity and discipline which is often required of its members. Sociologists D. Bromley
and A. Shupe once described the Tnevnoc Cult which recruited young women, required
them to shave their heads, wear special uniforms, gave them new names in a foreign
language, required them to give up their personal possessions and sleep on hard pallets.
During their initial membership in the cult, they were isolated from family contacts. They
were later required to ritually marry the dead founder of the cult.

Bromely and Shupe received many
inquiries about this abusive cult from sociologists and others concerned about
psychological manipulation within cults. The latter did not realize that "Tnevnoc"
spelled backwards is "Convent". 2The
sociologists were referring to activity in a Roman Catholic convent. This same theme
appeared in a paper delivered in 1989. 3

Down through history, many religious groups (like convents, monasteries, intentional
communities, etc.) have required their members to adhere to strict diets, schedules,
repetitive praying, abstinence from sexual activities, isolation from former friends and
their family or origin and other disciplines. To the casual outside observer, this might
appear to be abusive. However, members accept the rules, enter and stay with the group
because they find it a generally positive experience. If it becomes no longer positive,
they leave and move on.

One of the opportunities of living in a democracy is that people are free to believe
what they wish and to enter into religious associations with other individuals. This
sometimes leads to unpleasant experiences; in rare cases, it can cause death. But that is
one of the risks of living in a society which has freedoms of religion, association and
speech.

The AFF was founded in 1979 as the American Family Foundation. They educate the
public and professionals about "cults" and assist people who have been adversely
affected by cult membership. They publish the Cultic Studies Journal
(CSJ) and the Cult
Observer. See: http://www.csj.org

Free Minds concentrates primarily on the Jehovah's Witnesses which they view as
a mind control cult. See: http://www.freeminds.org/

Recovering Former Cultists' Support Network (reFOCUS) supplies "recovery
resources for folks hurt by their involvement with abusing and controlling organizations
and relationships" See: http://www.refocus.org/index.html

Rick Ross, former deprogrammer and current exit counselor has a personal web page containing "over 270 articles, letters, and
book excerpts." See: http://www.rickross.com

Trancenet.org is an anti-cult group "championing psychological
freedoms in cults, corporations and family groups." Their site has up-to-date
news reports. See: http://trancenet.org/

Understanding Cult Mind Control is a web site of Steve
Hassan, author of the
book "Combating Cult Mind Control." See: http://www.shassan.com/

Keith E. Tolbert and Eric Pement, "1996 Directory of Cult Research
Organizations", American Religion Center, PO Box 168, Trenton, MI 48183
(313) 692-7772. This organization may not exist. There doesn't seem to be
any reference to it on the Internet.